To celebrate Vikings Live, we have replaced our Roman alphabet with the runic alphabet used by the Vikings, the Scandinavian ‘Younger Futhark’. The ‘Younger Futhark’ has only 16 letters, so we have used some of the runic letters more than once or combined two runes for one Roman letter.

Museum number

1939,1010.1

Description

Full: Front

Massive gold belt-buckle, hollow with cast ornament. The upper surface is covered entirely with zoomorphic interlace, the design picked out in tiny punched circles and inlaid (except on the loop) in niello. Three large plain hemispherical bosses connect with sliding catches on the back-plate, which opens on a hinge. Situated on either side of the boss at the tip of the buckle, two animals grip a smaller creature in their open jaws; on either side of the two, slightly smaller, upper bosses are two birds' heads with curved beaks. Between these is a circular plate which acts as a stop for the tongue of the buckle. This plate is decorated with a complex animal interlace; the tongue protruding from it is ridged and otherwise plain. The buckle loop has two panels of interlace, not nielloed, on the upper surface and the rest is plain. The buckle loop is hinged independently, and the tongue plate also moves on a separate swivel; basal disc.